In 2021, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams provided almost 3,500 individual mental health consultations and facilitated group mental health activities for more than 64,000 people in Mozambique’s northern province of Cabo Delgado. This month marks five years of intense conflict between government forces and non-state armed groups in the region.
An estimated one million people have been displaced from their homes due to the violence, often more than once, and more than 4,000 people have been killed. Five years of grief, fear, and instability has had profound consequences on people’s mental health. MSF’s mental health staff see patients suffering from acute stress, anxiety, and trauma.
"Whenever we talk with the people here in Palma [a town in Cabo Delgado],” said MSF psychologist Josuel Moreira, "it is important to keep in mind that we may be talking with someone who has lost everything.”
